Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Organic Beet Salad

I was at a pottery show and a friend, Carol Bell, got me some amazing pluots
and green eggplant. They were the sweetest pluots I have had and the egg plant
was delicious grilled as well.
This got me curious about her source and she
mentioned Tiny's
Organic which is a CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture) program. Sounded
interesting and she got me a FREE box as a promotion they were having.
We
got our first box which had pluots, donut peaches, golden beets, lemon cucmbers
(I thought these were tiny melons first), heirloom tomatoes and some wonderful
recipes too.
The pluots and donut peaches were heavenly and really sweet. So
they didn't last long.
Then came the cucumbers, tomatoes and golden beets. I searched and read a
bunch of recipes, so mine landed up being a mix.

Before I get to the recipe, let me talk a little about Beets. I have had
raw beets before and was not a big fan, and had also tried them boiled and they
were ok.
This time I roasted the golden beets along with some red beets that
I had at home. Just scrub them clean (no need to peel) and toss them with olive
oil and some rock salt. Then put them in a foil lined pan and cover with foil as
well. Into a 375 oven for 30-40 minutes till tender. When cool the skin just
falls off.
The amazing magic was the way way the golden beets got stained
with the red beats, having this beautiful color transition from dark red to
yellow. As you know I am a man of color with my pottery, so got really
excited looking at the color. :)
To make the dressing, I saved the juices/oil from the roasting the beets.
Added some olive oil and balsamic vinegar with salt and pepper. Whisk and you
are done.

For the salad
Cucumbers
heirloom tomato
lettuce
beets (of
course)
Toss it all with the dressing and top with goat cheese and pine
nuts.
It was a delicious salad. The cucumbers were crisp and the heirloom tomatoes
were sweet. Fresh burst of flavor and now we are signing up for our weekly
deliveries. Thank you Carol for introducing us to Tiny's
Organic.